Examples

The theory thought of the re-formation of a metal from its calx, that is, the earthy substance which remains after combustion, as the combination of two things to produce one, apparently homogeneous, substance.

Mr. Lavoifier found 9 parts natural gypfum to afford by diftillation 2 of water - f -, which agrees very nearly with my determination of that contained in the artificial; but fome forts of gypfum contain a mixture of mild calx, which is foreign to their conflitution, and therefore cffervefce with acids.

The Dictionnaire des arts et métiers (1766) outlines a typical procedure for creating the coating for ceramics or clay bodies. 27 A base, made from the ground calx of lead or fine tin, is mixed with ground white flint and tartar salts.

Lead, on the other hand, the alchemists regarded as a very immature and impure metal: heavy and dull, corroded by sulphur and nitric acid, and converted into a calx by the action of fire, -- lead, to the alchemists, was a symbol of man in a sinful and unregenerate condition.